The Department of Orthopedics at UCONN is providing remote surgical training and mentorship to all their residents during the Covid-19 crisis.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 24, 2020 — PrecisionOS Technology, developers of the medical-grade virtual reality™ learning platform that advances surgical readiness, announced today details of a partnership with top-ranked research institution, University of Connecticut (UCONN).
“This technology couldn’t have come at a better time. We are struggling to balance the safety of all of our residents and patients with our obligation to continue to educate the surgeons we are graduating”, said Dr. Lauren Geaney, Program Director at UCONN. “PrecisionOS allows us to bridge that gap with accurate simulations. We are very excited to begin integrating this into our curriculum. We have tried many VR providers and we chose PrecisionOS given the quality of education and the fact that it is clearly made to improve surgeon skill.”
Residents’ clinical responsibilities have been significantly reduced to adjust to the needs during the pandemic. There are limited responsibilities for the foreseeable future. “As a senior resident, this is an extremely stressful situation as I complete my residency program. I will be starting my fellowship shortly, and now with no elective operative cases, I can feel my technical skills deteriorating without practice, said Dr. Merrill, a 5th and final year resident at UCONN. “The PrecisionOS platform is exactly what we need. It is challenging, case based, and allows me to operate through increasing levels of complexity in virtual reality. It allows us to practice our hand-eye coordination and 3-D visual-spatial awareness from anywhere. This type of training is certainly the future and will be critical in educating future surgeons, we should have this type of training year round, and now we will”.
“We factored in many variables when developing our VR medical education and training software. The current models of learning have shown limited value as an experiential tool. Our platform is intended to provide the missing experience of being transported to an operating room environment, encouraging confidence in the student’s technical and responsive skills, which is otherwise only available in the physical operating room,” said Dr. Danny P. Goel, Orthopedic Surgeon, CEO and Founder of PrecisionOS. “The advances in technology allow us to connect individuals to surgical experiences which they may not see during their entire training. Now, It’s available to them at their convenience, at home, as needed with personalized performance metrics they can build upon. We are very proud we can assist and deliver on our principal goal of providing medical grade VR education.”
The PrecisionOS method of VR training has proven superior to traditional approaches in a number of ways, including enabling users to grasp procedural concepts significantly faster. They have shown this in their recent publication in JBJS Am, the leading orthopedic surgical journal known globally. The validated study demonstrated that senior residents who trained with VR modules will learn faster and be technically superior when compared to their colleagues who trained for the surgical procedure through traditional means.
In addition to improving efficiency and skill, the PrecisionOS modules can provide hospital systems and learning centers with considerable financial relief. The modules are facilitated through a portable platform, Oculus Quest, enabling training to be completed anywhere and at any time, encouraging portability and eliminating equipment hard costs.
The partnership with PrecisionOS will allow UCONN trainees the opportunity to stay connected to their clinical experience of operating. The students will be able to practice surgery at their convenience, learn from their mistakes and continue to improve and enhance their technical skills, while at home.
“Education is the pillar by which we provide the best patient care,” said Dr. Goel. “We have to reduce the negative impact this situation will have on patients who will require surgery once this pandemic is over and beyond. The trainees should experience failure at home, not in real life.”
About PrecisionOS
PrecisionOS was founded by a team of clinical orthopedic surgeons and game developers to create the most relevant and applicable medical-grade-VR-simulation™ experience. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, and backed by the prestigious AO Foundation, the company’s mission is to provide first-in-class orthopedic surgical training on a global scale. Given its focus on surgical education, PrecisionOS is a CME provider through the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the only scientifically validated, peer-reviewed and published immersive virtual reality product on the market. It has been tested among its end users and customers resulting in business relationships with some of the top orthopedic companies and societies in the industry.
To learn more about the technology behind the training modules and the impact it’s already had, visit PrecisionOSTech.com.
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